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>> and now, "bbc world news." >> this is "bbc world news." live in tokyo -- trying to avert a nuclear catastrophe, a team of japanese workers battles to contain damage at a troubled plant which the u.n. watchdog labeled very serious. meanwhile, the human toll of this tragedy continues to climb as relatives continue to search for thousands, including one mother amidst the rubble. she handed them off to relatives, they were safe, but she was carried away by pi water. >> and in london, the other headlines. advancing on benghazi, forces loyal to muammar gaddafi say they're closing in on the biggest rebel stronghold. and in a crackdown in bahrain, dozens of protesters are

injured as the army move in on their base in the capital. >> it's a chilly thursday morning here in tokyo where the crisis triggered by last week's earthquake and tsunami unfolds on so many levels. the official death toll now tands at 4 are, 500. -- 4,500. half a million are homeless. two million or more have lost power. then of course there is the unfolding nuclear drama, the fukushima nuclear plant north of here where the situation is fluid to say the least. yesterday there were a number of setbacks, a new fire breaking out, and this morning we've had word from the power

tp that they are close, as they put it, to restoring the electrically powered generators that operate the cooling system. if that were to be the case, that would be good news because so is far all the 0 -- other options of trying to cool down the reactors have failed. here in tokyo the situation is is relatively calm but there is unease about rising radiation levels even though so far officials have assured us there is no risk to human health. here is is our correspondent. >> to an outsider, the scale of tokyo can be hard to take in. is stretches from horizon to horizon, an unbroken stretch of glass and concrete. 35 million people live here. as the wind blew into tokyo from the north today, the street emptied. more and more people are now wearing masks whenever they go out. the latest pictures from the fukushima nuclear plant are not

likely to make anyone here feel more confident. the shattered reactor buildings seem to contradict all the government claims that the situation is under control. in the latest attempt to halt a meltdown, the army used helicopters to dry -- try and drop cooling water onto the damaged reactors above, but the howling winds and radiation level force to do to be abandoned. and in a sign of just how serious things are becoming, emperor akihito appeared on television to try and reassure his people. but people here are not reassured. at tokyo station we found families dashing to board trains south. people with small children seemed most eager to get out. what are you most worried about? >> i'm most worried about the nuclear plants, he says, especially because i have small children. i want to stay far away from tokyo for a while.

many people who live and work in tokyo come from other parts of japan, and now they want to go home. there is definitely more than just a trickle now of families leaving tokyo for other parts of japan because of the fear of radiation. most of the more than 30 million people who live in and around the city, though, leaving is not an option. they have no place to go and if there is a major release of radiation from the fukushima plant, there dawes -- doesn't seem to be a plan what to do either. if there is, the asumi family hasn't been told about it. they are watching the events to the north with growing consternation. they have an 8-month-old baby and they simple isly don't trust what the government is telling them about the lack of danger. >> i don't think so. you don't trust them in? i don't trust them. >> why not? >> because companies say not --

not truth. >> and what is this you have bought? is is this new if >> yeah, new. >> so instead the asumis like millions of other tokyoites are making their own plans. helmets, facemasks and a car standing by to head south at a moment's notice. >> there is some conflicting information this morning. the americans are saying there there is no water left in reactor 4, which would make any cooling down incredibly difficult. the japanese have denied this. so what exactly is the date of these reactors right now? here's our science correspondent. >> a neat row of reactors -- how the power station used to look. compare it to a satellite picture from today. the terrible aftermath of fires and explosions. the cloud of steam from one unit, and on the left, reactor 4, with far more damage than

previously thought. today came the first official assessment from outside japan of how bad things really are. worse, it said, than america's most serious nuclear accident. >> the japan incident actually appears to be more serious than three mile island. to what extent, we don't know now. they're unfolding very rapidly on an hour by hour, day by day basis and there are conflicting reports. we don't really know in detail what is happening. in 1979 there was a partial meltdown at three mile island in pennsylvania. some radioactivity was released, but it involved just one reactor, not four as in japan. details are really sketchy, but the range of options for tackling the crisis is shrinking. the key task is pumping in water to cool the reactors including the number three reactor where a cloud emerged this morning. the aim is to keep water

flowing through to reduce temperatures but this creates steam and too much of it could now another option is to deploy more workers. that's hazardous. reactor three is giving off so much radiation, people can't get close. reactor four, the tank holding rods is holding -- leaking water and if it runs dry, there would be a leak. one plan is to drop water by helicopter but there is no way of protecting the air crew then. that just leaves fire engines and cannons to pump the water in but again those workers would be supposed -- exposed to radiation. the workers were briefly pulled out last ny but now 180 are back in. the legal limit has been raised for radiation to allow them more time inside. but there is little protection for them.

>> they're -- they've been working on this five days now. and you can imagine the very durblingt hot environment they're working in. >> one no one seems to know is the exact state of the reactors. the next few days are critical. one should not lose sight of the fact that there is also an extraordinary humanitarian effort going on in the north of crit as a result of a really quite extraordinary catastrophe there. our correspondent is is in a city of about a million people, and to add to all their existing woes, snow fell in the middle of the night and now frees fing temperatures. >> every hour they add more. coffin after coffin. lost life after lost life. brought to a bowling alley that now functions as a makeshift

mort ue airy. the terrible reckoning of this disaster. this man came here today searching among the names for his wife. people who went missing and were found dead, their bodies are here. i've come to see if she is among them. >> he knows she was at home and as the tsunami approached, left in the car to escape with the couple's two children the this is as far as she go. she jumped out of her car in front of a cousin's house here. they could see the tsunami coming in, sweeping over from the sea up this road. she ran across here, tried to reach another cousin's house because it's bfblet steel. she had her children in her arms. she got as far as the steps. she handed the children up to

relatives. they were taken inside, they were safe, but she was swept away down the road and carried away by the water. the house the chirp found refuge in is one of the few things left standing here. the man is convinced his wife survived this somewhere. her name wasn't on the lists of the dead so is now he's trying the lists of the living, those who made it to the shelters. but her name is not here either. >> i've been coming here every day since the earthquake. until now i have no information about my wife. >> and there is scant idea, too, of the true toll, how many thousands were swept away like i zumplet mi. -- izumi. today, snow started falling, making the job of finding them

even harder. his children are now safe in a car repair shop. it the their temporary home with their father. >> the kids keep smiling every day. they say "let's go find mummy today." then they say, "if not today, we'll find her tomorrow." it's what gives me strength to go on looking for mer -- her. >> as he keeps searching, the children sit and wait for mummy to come home. natori, noast -- northeastern japan. >> i spoke to the operations manager of the save the children fund here in japan. welcome to the program. how much does the nuclear drama complicate the relief operation organizations like yours are involved in? >> it's hugely complicated. first is the scale. it's an additional 200,000 plus

people displaced because of the nuclear situation and who continue to have to moving potentially so that's the first thing. secondly, operationally it is very, very complicated because routes keep change k.g., road closures, etc., etc. -- changing, road closures, etc., etc., a team we sent up, a 10-hour journey that should only have taken about five. >> normally when you have this sort of natural disaster, however bad it was, there is a degree of closure. i mean you know when the disaster has ended then you get the cleanup and rescue operations. you can't really say this about this, can you? >> no, not at this stage. we have to remember our main goal, to try to meet humanitarian needs of the people that have been affected. but yeah, it's very, very difficult when it's constantly evolving and every day, every minute you hear something

different about the nuclear situation. but we have to remain focused on the main goal and consider the impact on the people. >> like everyone else you are i guess watching the news about the nuclear situation closely and are you considering pulling out your own people? >> well, we're watching closely and of course the number one priority has to be the safety of our own staff. we have a team right now working to determine what it means for us as an organization and operation here as well but at this stage there are no moves to withdraw at this stage. >> what's the psychological impact of this multilevel drama on the children you are dealing with? >> i think something like this, a disaster of this scale, on all these different levels, it turps a child's world upside down quite literally. then you have the added problem that the parents are stressed, anxious, and that has an impact

on the children too. they've experienced something very traumatic, been displaced from their homes, they can't do the normal things they would do in their lives, go to school, hang out with their friends, etc., etc., then you have the dynamic of the nuclear situation which is extremely concerning for everybody. >> hannah, thank you. i wonder what exactly happens, what people are thinking about that mask of stoicism we've all been so impressed by in recent days. it must be a deeply emotional experience to live through this kind of tragedy and to have that big question of the nuclear issue hanging over you. that's it from this special edition of "bbc world news" here in tokyo. back here in -- back to you in london. >> and before we do this, these final pictures have just come

in. these are the helicopters over reactor three in the fukushima plant. once again they are trying to drop water onto the reactor to cool down the rods inside. we should add this was an attempt they tried yesterday as well. it didn't go so well. they abandoned it i think after a couple of hours. they are trying again today, which shows you that this is still a priority. they have to try and cool these rods down, otherwise things could get a lot worse, and we are waiting to see if the power top, tepco, has indeed managed to start those generators again to power up the cooling system. back to you in london. >> matt frmplet -- frei in tokyo. thank you very much indeed. ing ahead, as protests continue in libya, the united states calls for steps that go beyond a no-fly zone.

>> british police say they've smashed an international pedestrian aphile ring with 7 70,000 members worldwide. >> the web site where they chatted on line put pedophiles in touch with each other so they would -- could exchange and share illegal films and photographs of children being abused. >> the internet knows no national boundaries so of course we had to work internationally as well. >> for three years they pursued what they came to believe was the biggest global network of pedophiles to day. the u.k. played a pivotal role in breaking up this enormous but highly secretaryive network. it was investigators here who identified the owner of the

site and traced the server to the netherlands. called boylove net, it had at its peak 7 70,000 followers. 670 suspect have been identified. 184 people have been arrested. 60 children have been protected in the u.k. intelligence has been issued to police in more than 30 countries. >> if you think you can abuse children, if you think you can use the internet to abuse children, you're wrong. you are not safe. you will be caught as this operation shows. >> the bbc's crime watch shows these arrests in thailand in the early stages of the investigation. police say more will be tracked down and brought to justice.

>> this is bbc news. the headlines this hour, trying to avert a nuclear disaster, cooling the reactors at japan's quake-stricken plants to try to avert a meltdown. the toll from the earthquake and tsunami continues to climb. some military personnel in japan have received potassium iodide tablets to coweract any effect of the radiation the. the cheeve the u.s. nuclear regulatory agency left wiggle room when he made this truly dramatic station that -- that he didn't believe there was enough water left to cool the reactors. >> that's right energy

secretary stephen chu said in his mind the situation at fukushima is worse than at three mile island when one nuclear reactor went into partial meltdown. fairly stark assessment from mer -- here. also the chair of the nuclear regular tate -- regulatory commission warned that u.s. military personnel and citizens in japan should actually withdraw to about 80 kilometers from the exclusion zone. the current zone is 20 kilometers. the u.s. is assessing that, their assessment is that it is more serious. >> and the french government recommending that their citizen are -- citizens -- citizens leave japan altogether in >> we haven't had a reaction to that.

the u.s. military has so many people in the country, around 50,000 currently in japan. but the government says it's monitoring the situation very closely and we have word they are looking to get more equipment into hawaii to monitor the radiation levels there but no suggestion that anyone currently residing in the united states is at any risk from the situation in japan but currently a lot of concern here. with 34 experts landing in japan, all with their own equipment. the u.s. is having to answer questions about whether it even trusts japan completely. >> there does seem to be a slight difference between what we are hearing out of the authorities there and at cescment from the united states although it's worth pointing out that the the is probably at this moment relying for a lot of its information on the media whereas these other officials

haven't actually arrived in japan as of yet. . i think it will be interesting to see once these experts arrive what role they play in working to contain the situation in fukushima. >> thank you very much. the red cross has withdrawn from benghazi in eastern libya because of fears that an attack by forces loyal to muammar gaddafi may be imminent. the colonel's son said the uprising will be over in 48 hours. our correspondent set out from the opposition stronghold of benghazi, trying to reached ajdabiya where both sides claim to have the upper hand. >> the road out of benghazi is ominously quiet. 100 kilometers of tark -- tarmac and desert is now all that stands between colonel gaddafi and the cradle of this

revolution. his forces are getting stronger every day as they move steadily east. we drove toward ajdabiya, now the last main town before benghazi and where the bat pl for the future of libya is being fought. it now appears that the libyan military who defected to president the opposition have finally decided to play their hand. this is one of a number of tanks deployed op to the front line and we have heard the sound of artillery and shells being deployed against the forces of gaddafi. this san old soviet era tank and it's battle worthiness is questionable the >> we've gotten orders ton allow any cameras. >> it's a mork -- mark of owe critical this fight has become that the rebels no longer want us to film their positions. but what we saw was a force that appears stronger and more

disciplined than before, reinforced by military defectors and better equipment, perhaps finally capable of fighting back. the real test is whether or not they can hold their ground. this is what the rebels are facing. government forces filmed on the other side of ajdabiya. not huge numbers but enough to push the opposition back this far. the regime claims that within two days these troops will be in benghazi. >> now ajdabiya but tomorrow in benghazi! >> but this is not a done deal. there's no sign of panic in benghazi. defend yans is more like it. -- defiance is more like it. >> we want to show it's be true, nobody is coming to benghazi. plus it's all women so we are showing that women have, you know, ideas and they can talk out in this revolution and even after this revolution, you know? >> it's one month since the

revolution in libya began and it all started in this city. but tonight it's come back to their doorstep and victory feels more elusive than ever. >> soldiers in bahrain are enforcing a night curfew and have taken up positions in the capital of man -- manama. the american secretary of state, hillary clinton, condemned the use of force against the demonstrators. security forces in siria arrested people as they broke up a demonstration in damascus. it was the second time in 24 hours demonstrators had defied a ban on demonstrating in syria. they were calling for democratic reforms. just a reminder of our main

news, growing concern about the danger from the damaged fukushima power plant in japan. it's feared spent fuel rods from one of the reactors are now exposed. the latest pictures coming from japan's national broadcaster, nhk. the little dot at the top of the screen is a chinook army helicopter and the japanese authorities have been using these helicopters to dump water and lots of it in just four fly-bies over reactor number three and four according to the pictures we are receiving from n.h.k. sen and a half thousand liters have been dumped in, all to try to cool these fleark reactors -- nuclear reactors and these are the very latest pictures we're getting from nhk, the national broadcaster. this is bbc news.

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wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.